Sketcher Question

[DanielBrown]

Just a general question for the more knowledgable Pro-E users out there (Think I'm in the right forum, what the heck did they DO to the handy old forums?!):

Is there any way, when you're creating defining dimensions from the references your sketch is drawn to, to create multiple dimensions at a time? Say I have six lines parallel to the y-axis, but spaced different distances away from it; can I somehow pick the axis, then pick the dimensions as I would by holding CTRL and create them all at once? Or do I actually have to click the axis, then the line each and every time?

Alternately, and even better, is there a way I can make pro-E create it's soft dimensions to reference the references I set for the sketch, instead of arbitrary connections to other random lines in the sketch itself? That way I could just change each soft dimension to what I need and lock it.

EDIT: Probably should have mentioned, I'm a bit behind the times and using Wildfire 3.

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[sdick · Accepted solution]

"Is there any way, when you're creating defining dimensions from the references your sketch is drawn to, to create multiple dimensions at a time?"

Unfortunately you have to create each one separately.

"is there a way I can make pro-E create it's soft dimensions to reference the references I set for the sketch"

I believe this is not possible, but you can use the sketcher_dim_revolve_axis option in your config.pro to automatically create diameter dim instead of radius dim in a section containing a revolution axis (you need a recent version of Pro/E for that, it's not available in WF3)

[DanielBrown]

Thanks, I more or less suspected that might be the case. You have to wonder, though, why they would even make you define references for the sketch, if the sketch doesn't DIMENSION anything to them! Seems like a fairly basic thing to have set up to me, I'm frankly quite surprised (and not all that surprised at the same time) that it's not an option.

Thanks again for the help!

Dan

[BrentDrysdale]

Hi Daniel,

Sometimes you can get the soft dimensions as you want by setting up your references and sketching your lines deliberately one at at time from the outside inwards towards your reference.

Regards, Brent

[sdick]

I think that some people can have a different point of view: it's better to minimize the number of dimensions linked to external references when you want to store your sections on your disk. The dimension scheme is self-sufficient so the placement is much easier & faster when you retrieve it from the library.